Useless Child
by NekuSakuraba101
Summary: AU. Hiyori is a solemn girl who has lived alone most of her life due to her busy and hardworking mother. Hibiya is a mostly mute, homeless boy taken in to her school out of pity and who can't do anything. So Hiyori vows to protect him.
1. Lalala, prologue

**So today, according to the date system of the U.S., is Hiyori's birthday. Whoo! **

**I decided to post this because it has her in there and it's her birthday. But then again I feel bad for doing this because this is not a happy story. I repeat, this is not a happy story. I kinda tried to improve my writing in this, putting more description and trying to sound more formal. I don't think it worked out that well though. Anyways, updates for this story will also not be consistent, so sorry about that. This chapter is mainly a prologue and doesn't have any real significance other than starting off the story. It also gives a look into Hiyori's personality for this story. **

**I hope people enjoy what they can of this fic, but in all honesty, I want to make you cry (though that probably won't happen till later on).**

* * *

Again, there was another disruption. Hiyori found it quiet irritating, and the emotion caused her to tap the erasure end of her pencil against the surface of her desk very rapidly. It had been fifteen minutes since her teacher had left class to deal with whatever squabble was happening in the hallway.

Even though Hiyori found the interruption quite annoying, it was also a sort of relief from the pressures of school work, at least for a few minutes. But when it happened more than once, she really would have just liked to continue with work normally. If her mom knew teachers couldn't even control one little disruption she doubted she would even continue the funding she gave for this school.

The noise in the room escalated as students took advantage of their teacher's absence and started talking with their friends. Hiyori didn't have the pleasure of such luxuries, seeing as she didn't have any friends. She had a few acquaintances she was close enough to talk to, but it seemed that all they wanted to talk about was clothes, makeup, and boys. Things Hiyori wasn't particularly interested in. But as she listened to the chattering around her, it seemed almost everyone was talking about what was happening that was causing so much uproar among the school. Hiyori too, was interested as well and strained her ears to listen without trying to make it so obvious. Some thought it was another misbehaving class, though Hiyori doubted that theory very highly. Others thought maybe it was an argument between a teacher and a student, but that didn't quite cover it either. And then most thought it was a fight, which Hiyori could agree with, though exactly what kind of fight, that was the question.

Hiyori sighed, resting her cheek in the hand of her propped up elbow. She stared down at the piece of paper on her desk. Half of it was filled with class notes and the margins were filled with doodles of flowers, lollipops, and Panda bears she had subconsciously drawn in her boredom. Maybe she should have continued to do work, but it wasn't like she was some overachiever, not like her mom wanted her to be.

"Hey Hiyori-chan, did you hear?"

Hiyori looked up from her paper to the girl leaning over her desk. She seemed vaguely familiar, not because she was one of the girls Hiyori usually hung around with, but was probably due to the fact that she was in the same class as her. Though, Hiyori didn't even know the girl's name or was even familiar enough with her for the girl to call her 'chan'.

She, of course, she didn't say any of this, but politely asked, "Hear about what?"

The girl tucked some of her long bangs behind her ear, the motion causing her blonde side ponytail to swish ever so slightly. "About the real cause of these class disruptions." she said. Hiyori just shook her head. "It's apparently about this one kid who came here last month. He's part of this humanity project the school is doing for better publicity because he's homeless. But for the past week he's been getting in a lot of fights with other students, and with each fight it gets even worse."

Hiyori blinked a few times, processing what the girl was saying. She had figured it was a fight or something along those lines, but this was the first time she'd heard about this 'humanity project'. She didn't even know people did that sort of thing anymore. But then again, how was this school supposed to get more money if they didn't try to appeal to the community. Still, Hiyori narrowed her eyes slightly at the girl, wondering if what she was saying was really true at all. "It must be a big deal if they have to call teachers out of their own classrooms." Hiyori commented.

The nameless girl just shrugged. "I don't now. But I heard they might be switching him into this class to try and solve the problem."

In her mind, Hiyori was wondering if that was really the best idea for a situation like this. Transferring him to another class was not going to ensure the fighting would stop, but they probably had to feel like they did something. Still, it might be interesting having a new student, something to observe at least.

Just then, their teacher came bursting in the room through the door. He looked really agitated. His forehead beaded with sweat and his black neck tie was loosened slightly, hanging in front of his white shirt messily. Not a very professional look. After furiously shifting through some papers on his desk he seemed to realize that most of the students were out of their desks.

"Sit down!" he commanded harshly. The girl in front of Hiyori's desk scampered away back to her own seat and so did the others students out of place. Right as everyone sat down, the bell rang. The class of students looked at their teacher expectantly. When the chime of the bell ended he just waved a hand at them. "Just leave." he said. No one seemed to care that despite the homework assignment on the whiteboard, he had never passed the worksheet out for it. Hiyori thought about mentioning this to him, but it seemed pretty useless now that everyone but her was gone. Besides she didn't want to do it anyway. Sure she was responsible but she wasn't stupid.

Hiyori took longer than usual with her things, glancing ever so often at her teacher. She wanted to ask him about what happened, but the stressed look on his face and the desperate way he was still searching though his desk made her rethink her plan. Instead she left the classroom without another word and started to walk back to her empty house.


	2. You're a useless, useless, useless child

Hiyori didn't know what she expected when she found out that that one blonde haired girl was right. For the next day at school, their teacher announced that there would indeed be a new student joining their class the following day or so. As soon as the declaration was made there were whispers among the other students about the new development. Hiyori took all this in with a bored expression. She still held up her opinion before that this was just a way for the teachers to try and avoid bringing other, 'more important' students into the mix, as in ones who actually had families that would not tolerate their children getting in trouble or expelled. The last thing the wanted was for there to be bad publicity in a situation where they were trying to get good publicity for themselves. All they really wanted was for this boy, whoever he was, to just disappear. They had no interest for his well being at all. And then when she saw him, Hiyori was even more certain of this.

Unless he was misplaced in the system, which was not unlikely, he'd have to be at least twelve to make it into her middle school class. Also, judging by his looks, everything she'd heard about him being homeless seemed true. His short, washed out looking brown hair was tangled into thousands of clearly visible knots, radiating with split ends, and bits of dirt, leaves and other pieces of nature wound into the strands.

His clothes weren't in any better shape. The faded blue shirt he wore had a tear down the front of it, along with the many stains covering his once white, hooded vest and tattered brown shorts; he looked like he'd been wearing these clothes for days on end. The only thing on him that seemed even remotely new were the light brown sandals on his feet. Sure they were frayed a bit around the edges, but other than that they were fine. Hiyori considered that they were so new because when the school had discovered him, he probably didn't have a pair of shoes to his name. But if that were true, why wouldn't they provide him with some new, cleaner looking clothes?

Despite the warm brown of his eyes, they seemed rather listless and empty, but if someone were to examine them closer they'd also see they were also filled with much sadness and loss. They went from looking at the gray linoleum floor to glancing briefly over the room full of students. Every once in a while, Hiyori thought she could see them flicker with fear and nervousness.

It also appeared that the talk of fights had held some truth in them as well. Judging by the bandages around half his right arm, the band aids on his left cheek, knee, and forehead, and the dark shadow encircling his left eye, the fights were not like the scuffles she'd seen most kids at this school get into.

Then there was also the bruises sticking out against his sickly pale skin. Involuntarily, Hiyori began counting the number of visible marks she could see from three rows away. She finally had to turn and look away from him as she reached a total of twenty seven, stopping after she counted the two on either side of his neck. He was probably the most skinny, helpless, fragile looking human being she'd ever seen in her life. Hiyori didn't know how they could allow such a person to go to school when it looked like he should be in the hospital.

"Class, this is Amamiya Hibiya." The teacher stood there next to the boy, a smile clearly plastered on his face. He looked nervous and most likely this was the last place he wanted to be. Hiyori couldn't blame him. "He just transferred here from another class, so be kind and welcoming."

The whole class just sat there, blank expressions on most of their faces. There were also a few moments of awkward silence where not even the teacher said anything, but after that he gestured for Hibiya to sit down. Hibiya hesitated for a second before doing as he was gestured to and started walking to the back of the room in search of an empty desk.

Hiyori did watch him from her desk. She watched the way he walked, slow, hesitant, and cautious. He reminded Hiyori of a wounded deer, trying to make its way through life, but knowing it doesn't have a very good chance of survival with it's injury.

It happened so fast Hiyori almost missed it. Hibiya had just passed her desk when someone in one of the other vertical rows stuck their foot out nonchalantly from the desk under their desk and into the aisle. Hibiya obviously didn't see this for he ended up tripping over it, falling, and landing hard on the classroom floor with a loud thud. Hiyori silently gasped, her mouth gaping slightly in surprise. A few other students audibly gasped, some murmured, and others looked like they were trying to constrain their laughter but were near failure.

Hibiya made no quick move to get up. Instead he laid there for a second or two before slowly leaning up on his forearms and lifting his head up. He looked around, as if in a daze. Then he slowly picked himself off the ground. A sniffling noise emanated from him and Hiyori was sure if she could see his face rather than his back, his eyes would be pooling with tears. No one helped him, no one asked him if he was injured, and once he got up he walked over to an empty seat, sat in it, and then his stare went down to the smooth surface of the desk.

Even though Hiyori was sympathetic and felt bad for him, she had to be honest with herself, he was kind of pathetic. The poor boy couldn't even stand up for himself. She would have thought living on the streets would have made him tougher, but instead he was, to put in blunt terms, a crybaby. He only got tripped _once_ and he was already sniveling.

Yet even with all these thoughts, Hiyori found herself turning around just to get a glimpse of this new student from her desk. Despite the person behind her, with their head in the way, she saw his face holding drying tracks from tears as he avoided everyone else's gaze and continued to stare down at his own hands in his lap.


End file.
